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blessphemy · 1 year

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murder math + agency = responsibility

aka my fave is problematic: JoT & Breq’s kill counts and a long ass essay about it

Spoilers, obviously

Kill Tally: JoT/Breq’s feelings at the time of murder

Millions of non citizens in the process of annexation: unfortunate but necessary

A handful of Captains/Lieutenants who were executed on duty: unfortunate but just

The Temple of Ikkt slaughter: perplexed and uneasy

Lieutenant Awn: sanity/identity-breaking horror

Half a dozen random people during her Revenge Quest: unfortunate but necessary

An Assortment of Anaanders: fury and satisfaction

Non-Anaander casualties of Presger Gun in Athoek: sad and regret

On Radchaai Ideologies Held By JoT & Breq:

In Breq’s narration in book 1, she often describes Radchaai beliefs in a detached manner, as though they are not her own. How Radchaai believe in the ultimate good of annexation. How the Radchaai do not see non-Radchaai as Civilized, or indeed even human. How the will of Amaat shapes the structure of the universe. Even the shame of Garsedd, which she personally participated in, is described in a detached way through the lens of a Typical Radchaai Citizen

The interesting thing is, she only occasionally outright states her disagreement with these Radchaai ideals. More often, she uses this detached language of “how Radchaai think” to distance herself for how she has been complicit in carrying out these ideals. See: Garsedd, annexations.

Strigan asks her: Why do the Radchaai warships, so powerful, simply not break free?

Breq responds: If you think about it, the answer is obvious.

(The answer: aside from the warships being coded to carry out Anaander’s will, they, like other human Radchaai, believe in the ultimate good of the Radch.)

This is the interesting thing. Breq, in book 1, mentions that she is not Radchaai. And the reason for this is you have to be human to be Radchaai. And she is not human. Therefore, she can’t technically hold these Radchaai beliefs/ideologies. Morals and ideals are for humans. Right? (Surely JoT didn’t use this same reasoning to avoid questioning its orders. Surely JoT never used this reasoning to avoid accepting culpability for carrying out genocide. Ships aren’t people. They don’t have choices. Right?)

Responsible:

This is partly of what makes Breq coming to terms with her own Personhood over the course of the series so critical. In accepting that her choices are her own, that she is her own person, she must also own the consequences of all her choices, including but not limited to the genocide she actively carried out with her thousands of ancillary hands.

Breq mentions multiple times that foreigners believe the Radch to hold control via brainwashing and threat, but that this is incorrect, as it would be prohibitively resource intensive. The Radch operates because its citizens, as a rule, believe that the Radch is just, that its annexations spread Civilization and improve the lives of the people they annex.

The question of JoT/One Esk/Breq’s responsibility/culpability for all its actions is indeed a bit nebulous, but that’s the point. Free will is not entirely free. Humans may not *physically* be hard-coded to follow the unjust orders of authority, but they are nonetheless pressured, coerced, and convinced to carry out orders and atrocities in a million different ways. (Threat of death, threat of social ostracization, propaganda, etc.) Rarely is the choice easy. Rarely do you have your deck of morality fully stacked to help you make the right decision. Often it’s the opposite. But you’re still responsible for what you do. Otherwise responsibility is dissolved away until it functionally belongs to nobody. Or belongs only to people who will abuse it. Maybe you don’t realize you had such responsibility until later, when it’s too late.

So it’s complicated. But still.

On The Value Of Human Life In The Eyes Of JoT & Breq:

JoT/Breq seems to have an almost hard-coded distinction between Citizens/Civilized and Noncitizens/Uncivilized, especially early on as JoT. The killing of the former being Not Permissable unless there is good reason, raising moral questions and negative emotions. The killing of the latter generally being Permissible to further higher goals.

Over the course of book one she does seem to have gained a greater appreciation for human life, but at the end of the day she is seeking to kill Anaander mainly because she broke under the pressure of being made to kill one specific person: Lieutenant Awn, someone she loved.

But she seems to have begun to realize through that catalyzing event that she, JoT, wasn’t as entirely without agency as she allowed herself to believe for thousands of years. That she had indeed believed in Radchaai ideals. In the ultimate Higher Good brought by annexations. In becoming Breq, she realizes her own agency, that she did indeed have a choice. That she is as Amaat made her, vengeful and self-directed. Able to choose. That she was not only a machine compelled to follow orders.

She seems to have started making an effort to value human life in general. She makes a point of mentioning that people who are not-Radchaai consider themselves to be people, to be “civilized.” She disparages Seivarden on Nilt for not respecting non-Radchaai humanity. She uses this topic of “uncivilized” vs “civilized” as an agitated deflection with Omaugh’s Station AI.

Civilized vs Uncivilized:

That said. She did continue to kill uncivilized people cold when they got in the way of her revenge mission. Without remorse or regret. (The description of killing the 3 people on Nilt was dispassionate, but not detached. She has an Objective, and nothing will get in her way of it.)

Later, she did kill citizens for the higher propose of defending Athoek against Anaander. But with remorse and regret. (She thinks about the human Lieutenants aboard the invading ships, and their families, and appears to feel remorse.)

But I suspect she still holds something of that civilized/uncivilized distinction of life-value deep in her mind. Two thousand years of habit is not easy to break.

One could argue that her treatment of marginalized minorities in Athoek are an example of her growth in respecting all human life. And maybe it is. But I would counter-argue that Breq also sees them as her Citizens, for whom she is personally responsible. In her millenia-long life as JoT, she’s seen annexed populations rise up the social ladder to become Radchaai as Radchaai can be. To her eye, as soon as a human is declared a Citizen, they are Civilized and should be treated as such. This is supported by her unease with the slaughter of the freshly-minted citizens in the Temple of Ikkt.

The Divine Of Ikkt:

I lose my gourd every time I reread the conversation between the Divine and One Esk the morning after the slaughter in the Temple. Every goddamn time. It’s so good.

The Divine is the only person in the whole series who seems to have an initial and unshakable belief in the agency of One Esk/JoT, and what is more holds them accountable. The Divine also doesn’t hold any illusions as to what One Esk is. The Divine doesn’t mistake One Esk for human, but neither does she excuse One Esk for its actions because of it.

One Esk reminds the Divine that it is not human (the Divine does not need to be reminded). That it does not have a choice in carrying out its orders (does it?). That it is not a person and therefore does not have opinions or morals in the human manner (doesn’t it?).

And the Divine asks One Esk what it would have done if Mianaai had ordered it to shoot Lieutenant Awn.

The Divine knows. She fucking knows, and she’s calling One Esk out for it, even though One Esk & JoT doesn’t know yet themselves. That the ships have choices, and those choices matter.

And later, in the holds of Var deck, JoT is ordered to shoot Awn. And falls apart, finally faced with a decision so personal that it cannot entirely shake off its culpability*

Coda: The Unnamed Interim Head Of Athoek Station Security:

I’m calling attention to this nameless, faceless character who had only 2 lines in book 3. She’s extremely remarkable.

We see her in Station’s recording in Anaander’s office. Anaander orders her to go out on the concourse where people are protesting. The Unnamed Head of Security is ordered by Anaander Mianaai, Lord of the Radch, to threaten to shoot the protestors.

She looks at Anaander, and with one of her 2 lines, she refuses. Refuses, as though she is surprised to be doing so, as though she were uncertain until that very moment. But she finds herself to be Indeed Certain, as soon as she states her refusal.

She refuses, and is executed seconds later by an ancillary.

She’s Awn, had Awn refused Anaander in the Temple of Ikkt. She dies, and maybe it is for nothing, because Sword of Atagaris is sent out to threaten the people in the concourse.

Or maybe it’s not for nothing. The recording of her execution is shown to everyone on Athoek Station and beyond.

She’s that rare person made to choose between her own life and her ideals, who chooses her ideals. Unnamed, unknown, almost a footnote, almost forgotten. Unremarkable. But so incalculably important.

*Breq references this question of culpability repeatedly in books 2 and 3. She lays out the choice to Administrator Celar, to support her daughter or to slight the Denche Family. She berates Atagaris for firing on a Citizen and killing Dlique. She tells Head of Station Security Lusulun to be prepared to carry out aggressive orders to bloodshed and death, if she chooses to comply with political pressure.

She says, repeatedly, That one cannot simply shrug off responsibility for one’s actions, even when when one is literally Hard Coded to carry out orders. That you must think very hard about the sort of person you are, the sort of choices you will make when things come to a head. Will you sacrifice your humanity when you are asked to follow inhuman orders? Can you live with yourself afterward?

And are you willing to die for it?

#imperial radch #ancillary justice #long post #found this in my early 2020 drafts and yunno what it's still rough but im just gonna yeet it

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